Kate Ryan, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A 13-year-old boy has been denied admission to a private school because he’s HIV positive.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a national organization, has announced it’s throwing its weight behind the effort to get the boy admitted to the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
“He’s qualified for admission, he meets all the criteria,” says Michael Weinstein, president of the foundation, adding the boy is an honor roll student. “They’ve said they’re excluding him because he’s HIV positive.”
The school argues in a statement to the media that because it’s a residential facility catering to children from pre-K to 12th grade, it can deny the boy admission.
The statement reads, in part, “Unlike public schools, the Milton Hershey School is not required to accept every student. We can lawfully exclude students who do not meet our eligibility criteria or where we cannot meet the needs of the student in our unique environment. Under the ADA, we are not required to admit any student who would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others that cannot be avoided by reasonable modifications of the school’s policies and procedures. This is the same legal standard that applies to students with active communicable diseases in public schools; the difference is our unique environment.”
But Tom Myers, general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, says the school’s argument won’t hold.
“They can’t say ‘we can’t handle this’. The Americans with Disabilities Act says that access to public/private accommodations cannot be denied on the basis of disability. The school in this case has to make a reasonable accommodation.”
The school argues that given the nature of the residential environment, the risk the boy’s medical condition poses is real. The statement adds “We understand the law and we follow it.”
The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania is arguing the child, from the Philadelphia area, should be admitted, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has announced it’s contributing $50,000 to help in the legal fight.
Weinstein says it’s not just about this one boy, identified in court documents under the pseudonym “Abraham Smith,” but about the precedent the case sets.
“What about college, what about summer camps?” Weinstein says. “The implications of this are really terrible.”
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